Roadside drug testing is failing patients and ignoring the real science

The prescription that puts your livelihood at risk

In my years as a GP, I have seen many patients struggle to navigate the maze of our medical system. Recently, a man reached out to me with a desperate problem. He uses medicinal cannabis as prescribed by his doctor, yet he lives in constant fear. Because his work requires him to drive, a positive test for cannabis metabolites could cost him his van, his job, and his home. The irony is that the medication is not affecting his driving. He is being punished for being a patient.

The police told him that if cannabis is detected, he is committing an offence. This logic is deeply flawed. We allow motorists to drive while using potent benzodiazepines, even when they are clearly under the influence the following morning, because our current testing regimes ignore impairment in favour of mere presence. If a patient takes their medicine at night to sleep, they are not impaired in the morning. Yet, our roadside tests ignore this reality. This is not just bureaucracy, it is a waiting room where hard-working citizens lose their livelihoods for following their doctor's orders.

If you are frustrated by a system that values red tape over human lives, I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay updated on our fight for sanity in our laws.

A pattern of ignored evidence

This is not a one-off error. It is a symptom of a larger, systemic malaise within Parliament. We recently had a working group tasked with examining cannabis and driving laws. They provided their report nearly a year ago. We have not seen a single word of it. The government simply buried the findings, just as they have buried countless other reports designed to improve the welfare of our people. I am currently tracking thirty such tabled papers that have been hidden away or ignored.

We are told the government listens, but the evidence suggests otherwise. When people's lives are at stake, we hear empty promises of future reviews, yet when the status quo is challenged, the response is silence. Whether it is road safety or legal reform, we are seeing a consistent refusal to act on the very reports that taxpayers have funded.

Why are we afraid of the truth

The toll on our roads is high, and while we waste time penalising patients for using medicine that does not impair them, we ignore the real factors contributing to road fatalities. Our laws ask if a drug is present, not whether a driver is actually under the influence. It is a lazy approach that prioritises convenience over accuracy. If we are serious about road safety, we must use the science available to us and stop this manifest injustice.

I have raised these concerns in the House, and you can read the details of my statement in the official Hansard record. We need a Parliament that acts on evidence rather than hiding from it. If you believe it is time for a change, I encourage you to join the movement and join Legalise Cannabis WA today.